Sd.Kfz. 7
The Sd.Kfz. 7 was a half-track military vehicle designed in 1934 by Krauss-Maffei for the German Wehrmacht. It started already in 1928 with the design of KM-M7, wich was a paper project. The Waffenamt suggested specifications. On this basis, the prototype of the KM-M8 was developed in 1933. It was bigger and much heavier then the KM-M7 and it was equipped with a 6 Cylinder Maybach HL52 engine. Not only had Krauss Maffei designed a prototype, Daimler-Benz and Buessing-NAG also designed there own M8 prototype. In 1936, another and much more improved design was presented by Krauss Maffei. This was the KM-M9 and have the 6 Cylinder Maybach HL57 engine. It went into production in 1936. So far, 127 vehicles had been produced. It was followed by the KM-M10, designed with the 6 Cylinder maybach HL62 engine. Also Hansa-Lloyd-Goliath have designed a model, wich was the HL-M10. In 1938, the Sd.Kfz. 7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t went into service. The name Sd.Kfz. 7 designation that was assigned by Nazi Germany to the KM-M11 design, wich was produced since 1937, and mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t was the designation that was assigned by Nazi Germany to military tractors vehicles wich can towing a 8 ton gun, like the 8.8 cm Flak 18. It was first equipped with a 6 cylinder Mayback HL62 engine, which was later replaced by the Mayback HL64 engine. The design can transport 12 troops (in-game 6 troops including the driver) and a 8.8 cm Flak 18 or any other artillery like a howitzer with a maximum weight of 8 tonnes. Furthermore, there was enough room to transport equipment for the troops. The design was a Halftrack, which meant it was a tracked vehicle with tracks and not fitted with wheels. This make the Sd.Kfz. 7 a good transport vehicle on the fields. But the speed was lower then any other wheeled trasport vehicles. With his maximum road speed off 50 km/h, it was 30 km/h slower then the Opel Blitz (80 km/h on road). Either the operational range on road (250 km) is lower then the Opel Blitz (320 km). In 1938, the Sd.kfz. 7 was taken into production by the German company Borgwald and Saurerwerken, but also by the Italian Breda as the Breda 61. The four factories produced more then 12,000 vehicles between 1937 and 1944. On the chassis, many other variants were produced: * The Sd.Kfz. 7/1 was a Sd.Kfz. 7 armed vehicle with a 2 cm Flakvierling 38 quadruple anti-aircraft gun, appearing with both an open and armored cab. There were around 750-800 produced by the end of December 1944. * The Sd.Kfz. 7/2 was an Sd.Kfz. 7 armed with a 3.7 cm Flak 36 anti-aircraft gun (in 1944 switch to 3.7 cm FlaK 43). Again, both open and armored cab variants existed. About 1000 produced by the end of January 1945. * The Feuerleitpanzer auf Zugkraftwagen 8t was an observation and command post for the V-2 ballistic missile. BF1942 2014-08-10 21-47-45-29.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-47-48-23.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-47-55-24.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-47-59-48.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-48-04-75.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-45-12-45.jpg BF1942 2014-08-10 21-45-07-92.jpg BF1942 2014-08-14 18-51-51-79.jpg BF1942 2014-08-14 18-51-54-91.jpg BF1942 2014-08-14 18-52-03-16.jpg BF1942 2014-08-14 18-52-08-96.jpg